Babysteps
by bunnyprincerabbit
Summary: When the villain Deku turns himself in, he is looking for a fresh start. He never expected the heroes to go this far. [mental illness warning] [future KiriDeku]
1. Prologue

Baby Steps

Prologue

A dark hooded figure watched the night sky. He watched for the people down below him. He had to call out in case he spotted heroes. Spotting movement from his peripheral, he gave a rather convincing bird call in a certain pattern down to his colleagues. When he was satisfied they were safe, he quickly and quietly started to move away. Sliding down the fire escape, and into the alley, the small figure began to follow after where the others went. He let out a weak gasp as he was pinned against the wall. A hero.

"What are you doing out so late?" The hero demanded.

"Just going for a nice walk in the cold air.." said the villain weakly, pulling his hood closer.

"By going down the fire escape?"

"I-It's quicker and quieter..!" He defended.

"Why are you wearing a hood?"

"Are hoodies illegal now...? Look.. this is harassment. I would like to leave..." He said softly.

When the hero finally moved out of his way, the small villain headed for the street instead of the alleyway. He was going to be late. But he had to make sure he wasn't followed. Shigaraki wasn't going to be happy with him either way. Either he brought an unwanted friend home or he was late. And Deku would rather explain why he was late than why he had a tail.

It took a good hour and a half to navigate the streets. But the green haired villain managed to get back and as predicted, Shigaraki wasn't pleased.

Deku gasped as a knife planted itself in the door, too close to his face for comfort. In fact, his ear was starting to sting.

"Where have you been? We thought you were right behind our technicians." Shigaraki hissed.

"A hero stopped me when I was coming down the ladder.." Deku whimpered weakly. "He was asking me why I was out late and I had to take the long way back..! I had to make sure I wasn't followed!"

"You weren't supposed to be seen!" Shigaraki growled, storming over to Deku from his seat at the bar table. "Do I need to give you another lesson?"

The green haired villain shrank as Shigaraki closed in on him. "N-no..." He whispered. "I'll do better next time...!" He promised.

"Oh, you will. And I'll make sure you remember that." Shigaraki snarled.

~*~*~*~

That was five weeks ago. Deku looked upon the large building in front of him with a shaky breath. He had managed to slip off after his last job. Shigaraki wasn't going to be happy. If the bandages around his neck had anything to say about it. Still, he didn't want to be an errand boy living in fear for the rest of his life.

Swallowing hard, Deku looked as if he made up his mind, he was going to head in. Then he paused. What if Shigaraki found him? This was a mistake. Slowly, he tried to back away.

Deku's heart kept into his throat as a hand placed itself on his shoulder. "Here to report something?" The hero asked with a bright smile, unaware of the heart attack he just gave the villain.

After a moment, Deku looked away. "Here for protection..." he whispered, hoping to not be heard, but that was not the case. The hero's expression hardened and he nodded quietly. "Let's get you inside then." Deku was unaware of what this small desire would cause. He only wanted the pain to stop.


	2. Chapter1

Chapter 1

_"Why should we trust what he has to say, he's a villain!!" A loud bang sounded throughout the meeting room as the large hero know as the Blood Hero, Vlad King, slammed his hands on the table in front of him._

_Midoriya Izuku, formally known as the villain Deku visibly flinched at the sound, ducking behind the police officer to hide. He was cuffed, of course so it wasn't like he could do anything to the officer who only smiled patiently at him._

_"He is also a child. One who has been a missing persons since the middle of his final year in middle school." Another hero interjected. Midoriya couldn't see them from his hiding spot, but from what he could tell, the voice was female. Likely Midnight. "And he hasn't done anything noteworthy as a villain. Just a look out."_

_Just a look out. That's all he was. A look out and a punching bag._

_"Still! He could be dangerous, he hasn't even told us about his quirk yet." The angry hero huffed._

_"... I-I don't have one..." Midoriya squeaked. He was sure the heroes would just think he's lying. But Deku knew there was nothing extraordinary about himself. That's why the league targeted him to be their look out. They had nothing to worry about if he got caught accept for how to properly punish him. The slit in his ear was proof of that._

_The room went silent. The league of villains had a quirkless look out. The longer the silence stretched on, the more the heroes came to realize how perfect that was. It made so much scenes. _

_"Anyway." The detective cleared his throat after a long enough pause to let the information sink in. "He has come here to ask for protection in exchange for information on the league. I, for one, think that's a fair trade."_

_The room broke into a few different conversations. All about poor little Izuku Midoriya who just wanted to hide. He wanted to crawl under a rock **and cry**. And cry and cry and cry until there was nothing left of him to spill. He was no threat to anyone. And all the heroes and police officers in the room new that now._

_The room quieted as a mouse about half the size of a fully grown human hopped onto the table. "Well, I think we may have a spot for him." It said in a gentle voice, startling Midoriya. "We can have him stay in the dorms. Our students can get the experience of watching over a villain-" Deku frowned deeply at the wording. "-and Midoriya can be protected."_

~*~*~*~

Izuku whined softly as he rolled over, awake now as an alarm went off beside him. He groaned softly as he sat up and turned off the blasted noise before stretching. He blinked hazily, not wanting the memory to go away. He tried to remember where he was. It wasn't a holding cell, but it certainly wasn't his room at the league of villains.

Quietly, he got dressed in a large T-shirt and sweats. He was to meet the others he was sharing the dorm with. He tried to remember the name of the teacher. It was Saturday, so naturally, he was going to get to know his prison guards- er, classmates today.

Slowly, he slipped down the stairs to see 19 others all seated in the common room. Their teacher was in front of the stairs, blocking him from view.

"Principal Nezu has decided that your class is going to take on a project." The teacher announced. There was a collective groan from the students.

"But it's Saturday, Mr. Aizawa!!" A redhead exclaimed. Ah. That was it. Aizawa. Or Eraserhead. Probably not the seat matchup considering Midoriya was quirkless, but he was sure the teacher could still kick his ass if he has a quirk or no.

"This is _important_, Kirishima." Mr. Aizawa said in return. "This class has excelled at every challenge thrown its way the past two years. Now principal Nezu believes you're up to this one too. Come here, Midoriya. I know you're listening."

Midoriya stiffened and walked to Mr. Aizawa's side.

"Deku?"

The voice of his childhood friend and bully made Izuku look up, shock on his face. Slowly, he tried to back away, but Aizawa noticed his newest student's attempted escape from the situation and placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from going anywhere.

"Hah. I thought you were _dead_. What the fuck are you doing here, stupid Deku." Katsuki growled, glaring at Izuku.

"As I was saying." Aizawa continued, ignoring Katsuki. "This is Izuku Midoriya. Formerly known as the villain Deku." He paused to let everyone, especially Bakugo, get their shock out of the way. "He's come to UA for protection from the league of villains." Again, he paused. Longer this time as Bakugo practically exploded at the statement. "He was the league's lookout, but he isn't part of them anymore. He is here for protection and rehabilitation. If you're worried about him trying to harm you or anyone here, he is also quirkless, hence why he isn't wearing a device to keep him from activating a quirk. You are to welcome him. Show him around the school. He is not to be alone unless he is in this building." And with that, Aizawa left Midoriya standing there, exposed.

The room was quiet for a long time before Bakugo broke the silence. "So. You didn't die after all. And here I thought you took my advice." He growled in his typical way.

"I-I um..." Izuku squeaked softly, backing away. He flinched when Bakugo got up and stalked over to him.

"Not only did you not off yourself, but you came here." Bakugo looked angry. Angrier than Izuku had ever seen him. He closed his eyes tightly, bracing himself for an explosion to the face or something.

Midoriya yelped as he was suddenly pulled into a tight hug. What? This wasn't what he was expecting. "The guilt was eating me alive for two and a half years... don't ever do that to me again." Bakugo snarled low enough for only Midoriya to hear before shoving Izuku away to catch his balance on the wall.

The class was silent, just watching this reunion. No one wanted to make the first move. Finally, Bakugo left the dorm, slamming the door, causing Midoriya to flinch. The sound seemed to wake everyone up from their stupor to welcome Izuku into the dorm, albeit awkwardly and seemingly strained.

It took a moment for Izuku to collect himself, but after settling on the couch, away from most of Class 1-A, Midoriya looked down at his lap and began to fidget nervously under the curious eyes of at least 14 people. "Y-you don't have to pretend to like me... I'm... not proud of what I've done." He said softly, trying to break the ice.

"We wouldn't pretend to like you!" Kirishima exclaimed. Probably not the best word choice because he noticed how Izuku shank in on himself at the comment.

Uraraka was quick to catch Kirishima's blunder. "Of course we wouldn't pretend! We'll get to know you so there won't be any pretending!"

Midoriya gave the two a weak smile. He jumped as Iida piped up from somewhere behind him, causing him to jump seemingly ten feet in the air. Just by observing this, the class could already tell that Midoriya was very jumpy. Probably best to about coming out of nowhere around him.

"Right! For now, let's get introductions out of the way! I am class representative Iida Tenya. It's a pleasure to meet you, Midoriya." He said in a stern tone, though he seemed pleased with himself to have the duty of showing the new comer around.

Izuku felt himself relax slightly at the sense of normality. Iida was treating him like a person. And for that, Izuku was grateful. He learned of everyone's names. Before breakfast, Iida toured Midoriya around the dorm, laying out the ground rules for him.

Once the tour was over, Midoriya quietly headed to the kitchen only to be stopped by Momo. "_What are you doing_?" She asked quizzically.

"I-uhh.. u-um.." Izuku fidgeted nervously under everyone's curious gaze. It looked more like an interrogation from where he stood. All he could see was the disapproving gases of everyone at the league. "I-I... um... I tended to be in charge of cooking breakfast and d-dinner for everyone at the league." He said quietly. It was hard to hear him. Those hard stares people were giving him was making it hard for him to relax and he knew most people probably didn't hear him.

But that didn't matter because Momo relaxed at his answer and smiled, causing her classmates to relax slowly. She had deemed his answer satisfactory, so there wasn't a need to redirect Midoriya. "Well, I can't let you cook alone. Not until we trust you, but you're welcome to help me in the kitchen."

Those gentle words and the lack of harm to his wellbeing caused Izuku to light up, though very subtle. If you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't have seen it. He quietly nodded and followed Momo into the kitchen, happy to just be treated human after his ordeal.

~*~*~*~

Over the next two weeks, Midoriya slowly settled into dorm life. He didn't like that he was so shy with everyone but it was hard. He didn't know who to trust. Everyone knew he was quirkless so maybe that helped them be a little more relaxed around him.

Midoriya yelped as the door to the building was slammed open. Classes were done for the day and Bakugo was the first to make it back to the dorm. He cocked an uninterested brow at Midoriya before he walked off.

Midoriya was left holding a spatula as he watched Katsuki leave, his muscles wound tight. He didn't notice the other students walk in. Not until Momo was waving a hand in front of his eyes. He gasped as he came out of his freeze and fell back against the wall and away from her moment when he noticed her, dropping the spatula in his haste.

"Are you okay?" Asked a gentle voice off to his right. Uraraka.

"Y-yeah, I just..." Izuku swallowed hard, his hand slowly finding its way to the bandages on his neck.

Uraraka frowned. "Momo, could you finish making Midoriya's meal?" She asked as she took his hand. She lead him to the couch and helped him to sit. She was on one side. Kaminari was on his other. "What happened there..?" Uraraka asked softly, eyes trained on the bandage around his neck.

"I-I don't want to t-" Midoriya started to say but Kirishima cut him off.

"If you don't talk about it, we won't know how to help you." He said in a firm but gentle tone.

[**Author's note: I don't know if you could consider Bakugo out of character here, but I tried to keep him aggressive towards Midoriya while making the reunion hold weight. Would love your feed back if I can improve anything.]**


End file.
